South Korean President Avoids Impeachment: What’s Next?

South Korea's embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol avoided an opposition-led attempt to impeach him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, as most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote Saturday to deny a two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers.

The scrapping of the motion is expected to intensify protests calling for Mr. Yoon's ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a survey suggesting a majority of South Koreans support the president's impeachment. Mr. Yoon's martial law declaration drew criticism from his own ruling conservative People Power Party, but the party is also determined to oppose Mr. Yoon's impeachment apparently because it fears losing the presidency to liberals.

After the motion fell through, members of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party rallied inside the National Assembly, chanting slogans calling for Mr. Yoon's impeachment or resignation.

The party's floor leader, Park Chan-dae, said it will soon prepare for a new impeachment motion. Opposition parties could submit a new impeachment motion after a new parliamentary session opens next Wednesday.

"We'll surely impeach Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol, who is the greatest risk to Republic of Korea," party leader Lee Jae-myung said. "We'll surely bring back this country to normal before Christmas Day or year's end."

Many experts worry Mr. Yoon won't be able to serve out his remaining 2 ½ years in office. They say some PPP lawmakers could eventually join opposition parties' efforts to impeach Mr. Yoon if public demands for it grow further.

The ruling party risks "further public outrage and national confusion if they don't find a formula fast for Mr. Yoon's departure," said Duyeon Kim, a senior analyst at the Center for a New American Security in Washington.

PPP chair Han Dong-hun said his party will seek Mr. Yoon's "orderly" early exit but didn't say when he can resign.

Protests against Mr. Yoon are swelling

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people packed several blocks of roads leading to the National Assembly, waving banners, shouting slogans and dancing. Protesters also gathered in front of PPP's headquarters near the Assembly, shouting for its lawmakers to vote to impeach Mr. Yoon. A smaller crowd of Mr. Yoon's supporters, which still seemed to be in the thousands, rallied elsewhere in Seoul, calling the impeachment attempt unconstitutional.

Impeaching Mr. Yoon required support from 200 of the National Assembly's 300 members. The Democratic Party and five other small opposition parties, which filed the motion, have 192 seats combined. But only three lawmakers from PPP participated in the vote. The motion was scrapped without ballot counting because the number of votes didn't reach 200.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik called the result "very regrettable" and an embarrassing moment for the country's democracy.

If Mr. Yoon is impeached, his powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office. If he is removed, an election to replace him must take place within 60 days.

The president apologizes for turmoil

Earlier Saturday, Mr. Yoon issued an apology over the martial law decree, saying he won't shirk legal or political responsibility for the declaration and promising not to make another attempt to impose it. He said would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country's political turmoil, "including matters related to my term in office."

"The declaration of this martial law was made out of my desperation. But in the course of its implementation, it caused anxiety and inconveniences to the public. I feel very sorry over that and truly apologize to the people who must have been shocked a lot," Mr. Yoon said.

Since taking office in 2022, Mr. Yoon has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and grappled with low approval ratings amid scandals involving himself and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Mr. Yoon called parliament a "den of criminals" bogging down state affairs and vowed to eliminate "shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces."

The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea. The turmoil has paralyzed South Korean politics and sparked alarm among key diplomatic partners like the U.S. and Japan.

"Mr. Yoon's credibility overseas has been undermined by declaring martial law, so he won't be able to exercise leadership in his foreign policies especially when his days are numbered," Kim, the analyst, said. "Its government bureaucracy will need to continue business as usual for existing alliance and foreign policy initiatives as best it can because there is a lot of important work to do globally."

Tuesday night saw special forces troops encircling the parliament building and army helicopters hovering over it, but the military withdrew after the National Assembly unanimously voted to overturn the decree, forcing Mr. Yoon to lift it before daybreak Wednesday. Eighteen lawmakers from the ruling party voted to reject Mr. Yoon's martial law decree along with opposition lawmakers. PPP later decided to oppose Mr. Yoon's impeachment motion.

Mr. Yoon's speech fueled speculation that he and his party may push for a constitutional amendment to shorten his term, instead of accepting impeachment, as a way to ease public anger over the marital law and facilitate Yoon's early exit from office.

Lee told reporters that Mr. Yoon's speech was "greatly disappointing" and that the only way forward is his immediate resignation or impeachment. His party called Mr. Yoon's martial law "unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup."

Lawmakers on Saturday first voted on a bill appointing a special prosecutor to investigate stock price manipulation allegations surrounding Mr. Yoon's wife.

Mr. Yoon accused of ordering arrests of politicians

On Friday, Han, who criticized Mr. Yoon's martial law declaration, said he had received intelligence that during the brief period of martial law Mr. Yoon ordered the country's defense counterintelligence commander to arrest unspecified key politicians based on accusations of "anti-state activities."

Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea's spy agency, told lawmakers Friday that Mr. Yoon had ordered him to help the defense counterintelligence unit to detain key politicians including Han, Lee and Woo.

The Defense Ministry said Friday it suspended three military commanders including the head of the defense counterintelligence unit over their involvement in enforcing martial law.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho has told parliament that Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun ordered the deployment of troops to the National Assembly. Opposition parties accused Kim of recommending to Mr. Yoon to enforce martial law.

Kim Yong Hyun resigned Thursday, and prosecutors imposed an overseas travel ban on him.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.